A part of her was relieved that Leohadn’tbroken her after all.
The other part of her was terrified.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, trying not to look at him. “I didn’t…I didn’t mean to…”
“Did not mean to what?” he asked, though his voice sounded rougher than it had been a moment before.
Crystal swallowed, though it sounded more like a gulp to her ears. He wanted her to spell out that she’d totally been checking out the goods?
What she didn’t expect him to say was, “Sexual arousal for your male is nothing to apologize for, female.”
Her eyes bulged for the second time that morning, but she bit her lip, wanting the ground to open up and swallow her whole.
Your male, he said, as if it was a given that Cruxan was hers.
She didn’t want to unpackthatat all. She didn’t want to touch those thoughts with a ten-foot pole.
“That’s presumptuous of you,” she rasped out.
His brow cocked and his arms crossed over the massive breadth of his chest, only further highlighting his muscles.
His nostrils flared and his voice sounded gravelly and strained when he said, “I know it because I can smell it. Males can scent when their females are aroused.”
Oh my God.
Oh my God!
The groundcould notswallow her up fast enough. Of course. Justof coursehe couldsmellher. Her first time being aroused by a male in years and he hadgoddamnfront row seat tickets.
Climbing to her feet, she thought avoidance and ignorance was the best response. She’d made a mistake, one she wouldn’t repeat if she could help it.
Without meeting his gaze, she said, her voice sounding a little too high-pitched, “W-we should go. The longer we’re here, the longer Erin is withhim.”
Yes, remember your friend, Crystal? The one who was taken prisoner by a lunatic and you’re sitting here checking out a shirtless male like you’re at the damn beach.
She needed to get her priorities straight.
With that thought, she steeled her spine. Being with this Luxirian Ambassador was inevitable for the brief future. She had to rely on him to find Erin and bring them both back to the Golden City. Afterwards, everything would go back to normal. As ‘normal’ as her new ‘normal’ was, at least.
Crystal blew out a steady breath and met his gaze. She could handle him until then. She could ignore this strange attraction to him, this strange awareness that sent alarm bells ringing through her mind. She just needed to keep her distance.
She nodded at him. “I’m ready.”
Chapter Nine
They traveled the morning in almost complete silence.
It was a little unsettling. Cruxan usually enjoyed the quiet because he didn’t experience it often. Usually only on long tracking trips, or on his journeys fromOtala, did he have quiet. His senses were too keen.
Far from any outposts or the Golden City, with only the eerie silence of the forest and his female’s footsteps, the rustle of his tunic over her own, Cruxan’s mind was at ease. And yet, it was in complete turmoil, an all around strange sensation.
Cruxan liked to be around other beings. He liked to be around females. He liked to talk and laugh and drink and mate. He enjoyed the life he was given, after fighting for it for so long.
But his female…she seemed like the complete opposite. She was quiet, shy, reserved, and she’d been so appalled by his words earlier—about how he could smell her sweet, heady, mouth-watering arousal—that he hadn’t said anything more about it.
But he’d wanted to. He’d wanted to say all kinds of things to her—not just about sex—but he found he was biting his tongue more often than not.
He didn’t want to scare her. Or perhaps, he didn’t know how to act around her. Everything was new. So new.
